General My New Fiat Punto Grande Failed MOT

[rob19791]

Best thing to do in my opinion is to pursue it as you are, and keep the forum informed when everything is completly sorted to your satisfaction, rather than reacting to other posters, unfortunately the more you post the longer it stays at the top of the tree and more people will read it.
Due to the "passion" thats been displayed on this thread people have a strong opinion and will post it.
Good luck with your rejection if that is what you want.
Apologies for calling you a joker.

NumanR

No worries NumanR.
Ive just been onto Fiat UK again and spoke to a customer care executive, i dont want the hassle of court, i love the car apart from the faults i explained that i want the car swapped and they are going to look into the possibility of swapping it for a like for like.
I keep getting conflicting information from the finance company, the dealership and Fiat uk, thats why im so angry. If only people knew how to do their job properly eh
The dealership want their courtesy car back today....fair enough. So i asked Fiat uk if they could get me a hire car whilst we sort this all out.
Thank you to everyone that has posted and il keep you informed as soon as i know what is going to happen.

 

[VinylHogger]

Never mind that nonsense about what you should and shouldn't post. It's up to the administrators to decide that and if some users don't like what you have to say then tough titty. You are righlty pissed off with this whole situation and I hope you get it sorted and can forget the whole thing ever happened. I was the first person on this forum to mention this problem and was really surprised that so many others had the same problem. Sounds like yours is worse than most though.

My car is due to be fitted with the new steering rack in the next couple of days, and if that still doesn't fix the problem I am gonna raise some serious hell!!!! My dealer maintains that I am the only person they know of to have had this problem (doubtful). Even the courtesy car they gave me had it!

 

[HornetUK]

With the dealer asking for their car back, you need to remember in all this your contract is with them, if it came to court, I know you aren't going to go that far, it is the dealer you issue the summons too, not Fiat UK.

Tell the dealer you will return their car if they are really going to insist on it, but you will be charging them for the use of hire cars for every journey you make once returned to them, until they provide you with your new car / full refund.

 

[rob19791]

cos the cars financed my contracts with the finance company and the dealer, they have to both accept liability, therefor i would have to take them both to court....but hey whats £500 when i can see them squirm lol
Got the car to 17th on the paperwork so they arent having it back before then, its tough if the dealer doesnt have any cars for his staff to drive, its a courtesy car (stickers all over it) not a bloody company car.
Should hear back from fiat Uk about the possibility of the hire car today though so il post when i find out what their up to.

 

[rob19791]

No hire car lol they wont let me have one
Never mind, im gona rent one for a bit. :bang:
Gona get my court papers on monday...thats if my dealer doesnt get back to me by friday. They said they dont want it to go to court and to hold tight, and they may be able to swap the car, i tell you what they couldnt tell the truth if it bit them on the arse
So thats it....if no joy friday....county court here we come lol

 

[HornetUK]

This all seems to be very hit & miss.

I take it you have sent the same letter to the dealer principal, the head office of the dealer and Fiat UK. One final deadline, with the warning that you are now using hire cars due to them not getting you a car and that the car is garaged / on your drive with ??? miles on it and will not be used by you again. They are free to collect it when they make the arrangement for the replacement new car.

When I did mine I was advised I didn't need to take the credit card co & dealer to court I was told it could just be the dealer, so I only did the dealer....not sure about yours.

 

[rob19791]

This all seems to be very hit & miss.

I take it you have sent the same letter to the dealer principal, the head office of the dealer and Fiat UK. One final deadline, with the warning that you are now using hire cars due to them not getting you a car and that the car is garaged / on your drive with ??? miles on it and will not be used by you again. They are free to collect it when they make the arrangement for the replacement new car.

When I did mine I was advised I didn't need to take the credit card co & dealer to court I was told it could just be the dealer, so I only did the dealer....not sure about yours.

They dont have a dealer principal, just an MD???? And managers...couldnt work it out myself i know ford has.
My final deadline is friday, like i said to the manager i spoke to on the phone, its all going into writing tonight. They know its not being used, i couldnt use it anyway because its on VOSA national computer and my luck id get a tug from the old bill lol.
Its all a waiting game now, no news friday, court on monday.
Im pretty sure its the same as you, the dealer only.

 

[HornetUK]

When you write your letter tell them you will also be claiming all costs incurred from any legal action.

If you are sending a final letter tomorrow morning you are best to put 7 days time on it as the court expects you to have been reasonable at all times so Friday may be seen a too shorter deadline, I know you've told them over the phone, Also send all letters recorded. If what you say about them saying get it MOT'd to prove its safe is true & it failing it is 99% certainm they will never go as far as the actual hearing, but they may let you take it quite a way along the court route before that, but remember at the end they'll have to pay all these costs, if they back down or on the actual day if you win.

 

[rob19791]

When you write your letter tell them you will also be claiming all costs incurred from any legal action.

If you are sending a final letter tomorrow morning you are best to put 7 days time on it as the court expects you to have been reasonable at all times so Friday may be seen a too shorter deadline, I know you've told them over the phone, Also send all letters recorded. If what you say about them saying get it MOT'd to prove its safe is true & it failing it is 99% certainm they will never go as far as the actual hearing, but they may let you take it quite a way along the court route before that, but remember at the end they'll have to pay all these costs, if they back down or on the actual day if you win.

Cheers for the advice, il bare it in mind.
They have as good as said that to me today, but like you say, what they say on the phone i cant prove, so im going to get it all written up.
Cheers for the advice

 

[jonnyk]

I assume you have notified the finance company as they have an interest in the car and if you write to them saying you are rejecting the car they will fight the battle for you.

 

[rob19791]

yep everyones up to speed

 

[jonnyk]

yep everyones up to speed

Cool. Hope you get everything sorted.

 

[rob19791]

Ta jonnyk... hopefully not too long now

 

[rob19791]

Phoned the dealer 4 times today to get them to pick up the courtesy car as i have no way of getting back once i drop it off,,,,,and hevent heard anything back. Its only booked out today! They will probably try and charge me lol.
Should get an answer as to whether they are going to swap it 2moro....fingers crossed lol.

 

[VinylHogger]

Well finally I got my new steering rack fitted today and all is well. Have been driving for 3 months with just the banging noise and haven't had any problems but am delighted that it's going perfect now.

Good luck with yours Rob

 

[The younger modder]

Got to say i was seriously considering a new sporting diesel until reading the forum this week theres that many problems posted its put me right off, this one especially

It sounds like your having the same dealer meither iv had with the VAG group they totally denied the problems yet wouldnt put it in writing that there wasnt a fault when having problems with my arosa i stopped going back there for problems after they scratched my door, curbed my alloy and got copper grease on my newly fitted recaros

And for people who says hes moaning too much (that may be the case to some people) hes shelled out thousands of pounds for a car that should be absolutley perfect, none of this "its a new model, there just teething problems" rubbish they supposedly test the new cars before theyre sent out and they have to be PDI'd which whould have picked this up on the test drive at least, its not just fiat (i find them to be pretty good) its alot of new car dealers who just expect to sell cars yet not look after them or fix them when needed

good luck mate, dont be too greedy but dont back down either

wayne

 

[rob19791]

cheers wayne.
Should hear from the dealer today, they are having a meeting with all the directors as we speak.....should know by about 5:30 as to how they want to do things....court or replace the car. Easy choices me thinks

 

[rob19791]

right.....
Meeting with the franchise directors on monday morning at 10am.
Duno if that a good or bad thing? But i suppose they havent said no to the replacement so far...so its all riding on monday with the top bods lol
Il let you all know how it goes on monday

 

[HornetUK]

Make sure you go prepared Monday. As if they were going to offer a replacement / refund they would have told you this news over the phone & asked you to come in.

They are more likely to say we have spoken to Fiat UK, who won't offer a replacement for this but it will be fixed by........and if you are still not satisfied we will consider your request again. The longer a rejection case drags on the less likely you are to ever get anywhere and they know this.

Take someone with you who you tell them is just going to note the key points of what is being said, they will not be speaking.

Also listen to what they have to say properly and then remember exactly what you want and tell them if it is different to what is being offered. If you are sticking to the replacement car and it is not an option being offered you will need to tell them you now have no choice but to start legal proceedings against them. Just tell them the next they will hear from you is the summons / defence request. If it reaches this point THEY WILL start up about how it will cost you loads, you won't win and what a waste of time etc, but this is all bluff as if what you say about the MOT failure and dealer telling you to get it done is true you will 100% win in court, but as before they will NEVER let it go this far, but they may let it go to the day of the hearing so be prepared for a stressful ride!

GOODLUCK, you never know I may be completely wrong and you'lll walk in and they will be sitting there with the forms for the replacement!

 

[rob19791]

Make sure you go prepared Monday. As if they were going to offer a replacement / refund they would have told you this news over the phone & asked you to come in.

They are more likely to say we have spoken to Fiat UK, who won't offer a replacement for this but it will be fixed by........and if you are still not satisfied we will consider your request again. The longer a rejection case drags on the less likely you are to ever get anywhere and they know this.

Take someone with you who you tell them is just going to note the key points of what is being said, they will not be speaking.

Also listen to what they have to say properly and then remember exactly what you want and tell them if it is different to what is being offered. If you are sticking to the replacement car and it is not an option being offered you will need to tell them you now have no choice but to start legal proceedings against them. Just tell them the next they will hear from you is the summons / defence request. If it reaches this point THEY WILL start up about how it will cost you loads, you won't win and what a waste of time etc, but this is all bluff as if what you say about the MOT failure and dealer telling you to get it done is true you will 100% win in court, but as before they will NEVER let it go this far, but they may let it go to the day of the hearing so be prepared for a stressful ride!

GOODLUCK, you never know I may be completely wrong and you'lll walk in and they will be sitting there with the forms for the replacement!

cheers for the advice, i dont think that they will have the forms for a replacement
I can only think that they are going to try and bluff me like you say or try and offer me a repair and some compensation, which i will refuse.
It does seem a bit strange that we are meeting the directors
But i would have thought that if they were going to refuse the replacement and they had made their mind up that they would have told me over the phone. BUT it could be a ploy to get us there and then try and confuse us with law and what not. Im prepared for this and am taking a solicitor with me tomorrow.
Im meeting at 10am so as soon as i know what road they are wanting to take i will post the outcome.
Cheers to everyone who has posted on this thread (good & bad).:worship: